ultimatepopculturefandomcom-20200216-history
Dexter (Dexter's Laboratory)
Dexter is the title character and protagonist of the Genndy Tartakovsky animated series Dexter's Laboratory, originally run on Cartoon Network from 1996-2003. He was originally voiced by Christine Cavanaugh, and later by Candi Milo. Dexter is a boy genius who maintains a lab behind his bookshelf, in which he invents strange chemicals, robots (many of whom eventually band together and turn on him), rockets, and a giant fighting robot (reminiscent of machines from the Gundam anime) which he pilots and uses to fight his arch-nemesis Mandark, who owns a similar machine. Most of his notable inventions are destroyed by his sister Dee Dee, whose favorite pastime is playing with his inventions. His birthday is unknown, although it was revealed in the episode "A Hard Day's Day" that Dexter is a Capricorn and in another episode, that he was in the 5th Grade. Despite being American, and both his parents speaking English with an American accent, Dexter speaks with a West- or South Slavic accent. Appearance Dexter is very short, wears thick circular glasses which are sometimes semi-round depending on his mood (similar to eyebrows), and has short red hair. He is normally shown wearing black pants, a white lab coat, purple gloves, and black boots. On occasion, and in certain circumstances, he is shown naked (with a leaf covering his genitals) or wearing briefs; his butt is rear view as a joke and in these situations, more often than not, he appears in front of a large or unfriendly crowd which laughs at him (pointing and jeering) until he runs away or the episode ends. Personality Dexter is the class know-it-all, and prides himself on seldom being proved wrong. This is contradicted by his experiments, many of which are frivolous creations used to achieve ends presented in the show, such as a machine built to render him invisible so as to sneak a look at his birthday presents. He is prone to believing urban myths that he is fed by Dee Dee, which often cloud his judgement, as well as superstitions. Despite his Genius IQ—Dexter is not above cheating when he wants to win—as in the episode "D D & D". It also appears that he knows very little about common illnesses such as Chickenpox. He has many phobias, namely his fear of bugs and clowns. He also struggles to fit in, and the hysteria that potential social situations cause in him constantly gets him in trouble. He has no tolerance for Dee Dee's disregard for his personal space, and will often bellow "Dee Dee, get out of my laboratory!", among other, more extreme measures. Dexter, when shown working, is usually tightening a single nut on an otherwise blank piece of metal or a random machine. He is sometimes shown mixing two chemicals carefully (attempting to pour a single drop into the concoction below), at which point he is interrupted by Dee Dee (usually causing the chemicals to explode). It was revealed that his favorite equation is %pi \div \sqrt abc \times E \frac 1000 . Dexter’s favorite character (who, within the show, is a real-life superhero) is Major Glory. Relationships with other characters Dee Dee Dexter considers his sister Dee Dee to be stupid, clumsy, and inferior to him. This is ironic as Dee Dee tricks him repeatedly, with urban myths and false information about certain diseases. Dee Dee frequently succeeds in areas where Dexter fails; for example, she beats him in physical activities such as a snowball fight and basketball. On rare occasions when Dee Dee and Dexter work together, she shows affection towards her brother. Dee Dee continually destroys parts of Dexter's lab. Their relationship is a normal brother/sister rivalry rather than outright cruelty. Mandark Mandark is Dexter’s arch-nemesis, and often attempts to humiliate him amongst the scientific community (normally just himself and Dexter), or to get a higher grade than him. Mandark also owns a robot similar to Dexter’s, which he uses to fight him with in an anime-style fashion. Besides the robot, Mandark in depicted as the virtual opposite of Dexter: he has an enormous lab and an equally impressive number of inventions. Mandark is slightly less clever than Dexter. Mandark happens to have a crush on Dee Dee, something Dexter uses to his advantage many times. When he first appeared on the show, he was shown to be significantly more capable than Dexter, but after the shows revamp, his advantage decreased somewhat, leaving him and Dexter on a more equal ground. His rivalry with Dexter appears to coincide with his birthname of "Susan", which Dexter laughed at, as well as his secret love of science hidden from his hippie parents (which Dexter also laughed at). Driven to show himself superior to Dexter, he became his arch-rival, and gave himself a new name; a "Man's" name to reflect his "Dark" brilliance, "Mandark". Dad Dexter's father normally tends to show favoritism to Dee Dee for her athletic prowess, but will occasionally side with Dexter when facing a challenge between the sexes (such as a snowball war between Dee Dee and Dexter, which he treats as a life-and-death matter in which Dexter must avenge his father being hit with a snowball thrown by Dexter's mother back in college). Unfortunately, Dad is also depicted as unreasonably hostile towards Dexter and Dee Dee when he interferes with a sports-related activity such as watching the "biggest golf match of the year" or breaking his bowling trophy. He has an unusual philia with his wife's muffins. Mom Dexter appears to be fairly close to his mother, and appears to have inherited his intellect from her. He is sometimes embarrassed by her, such as when she kept causing a loud ruckus at a chess tournament in an effort to cheer him on and ended up getting him disqualified for making noise in a quiet zone, but mostly their relationship is a common affectionate one. Other Appearances Dexter has made cameo appearances in The Powerpuff Girls, I Am Weasel, Time Squad, and The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy. He has also been seen as a balloon in Codename: Kids Next Door. A thinly disguised version of Dexter appears in the Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends episode Eddie Monster. He is also in Cartoon Network's MMO FusionFall, appearing as a teenager and much taller. Category:Dexter's Laboratory characters Category:Child characters in television Category:Child superheroes Category:Fictional child prodigies Category:Fictional inventors Category:Fictional engineers Category:Fictional scientists Category:1996 introductions